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Grunger

The `Hundred` competition and a ten team division 1 CC must have made arranging fixtures a nightmare. Seems Counties play 5 teams twice and 4 teams once to make up 14 matches! I was looking forward to going to Canterbury but we only play Kent at home - Cheltenham sounds a good alternative though.
Scarborough aint posh but it attracts Cricket lovers from all over the country because of its unique atmosphere ... possibly due to the excellent Fish & Chips and beer!
Will be happy to provide more Scarborough info if you are interested.

Tyke

Thanks for the info. The Div 2 was a mess last season like you will get in 2020. I was hoping to follow Worcs at Derby but they didnt play them. I have been to Scarbs once but not for cricket. I found a nice pub in the High Street called the Turks head or similar.

Yes I agree the Hundred is brilliant for getting proper cricket on lovely outgrounds. I wont be watching any of the rubbish but it seems that millions of pounds are leaving the game to go to Aussies etc. I am glad that some of the journeymen Worcs players have got jobs in it though.

Thanks for your observation on the blues doing well (before the disaster last week). You and I are probably the only people in the country that realised Everton had a good run of 5 games before last week. The phone-ins have been slating Silva, but I managed to get on Radio Merseyside with a semi-spoof call with statistics "proving" how well it was actually going. In fact with correct VAR decisions we would be 5th.

Jigjag

Hope Everton stick with Silva but the pressure must eventually take its toll - shame because he seems a genuinely nice guy. There`ll no doubt be a short list of about 200 hoping to replace him.

I can't believe I missed the 1000th post!!

Never mind, at least Malone did it proud.

There are reports that the Apostrophe Protection Society is closing down ...

... With regret I have to announce that, after some 18 years, I have decided to close the Apostrophe Protection Society.
There are two reasons for this. One is that at 96 I am cutting back on my commitments and the second is that fewer organisations and individuals are now caring about the correct use of the apostrophe in the English Language.
We, and our many supporters worldwide, have done our best but the ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won!
This web site, masterminded by John Hale, will however remain open for some time for reference and interest.
John Richards November 2019

https://www.apostrophe.org.uk/

Tyke

Sad news but I think we should battle on here. At the gym today I could not believe my eyes - A notice was headed - "Christma's Activities"

Tyke, thanks for the APS stuff, APS' stuff, APS'S stuff...

I have since read a little more in today's Times. I was relieved to read that John Richards remains 'irritated by poor punctuation... The use of the comma is appalling.'

We owe it to Mr Richards to continue to be vigilant - this will counteract his suggestion that fewer organisations and individuals care about the correct usage [of apostrophes].

Jigjag, the notice in your gym was a shocker!

Thanks Malone & Jigjag

Pleasingly it appears that Mr Richards` website has experienced an upsurge in traffic over the last two days ... ergo, there must still be people who care about such matters ... as well as PU posters and readers.

Malone, Tyke

After reading your postings yesterday, I decided to complain about the “Christma’s Activities” at the gym. I spoke to the manager, Ed Trainor.

“I’m afraid that was our little joke” said Ed. “We read the article in the Times and inserted an apostrophe to see if anyone noticed. We had a couple of complaints from a Scottish woman and a Yorkshireman, so we removed it with Tipp-ex.”

“Thank you. Some of us get irritated about wrong apostrophes” I replied.

“Of course, when I was in the Navy, we had to get it right. Anyone who got fo’c’s’le wrong was in trouble. Difficult word with 3 apostrophes” said Ed.

“I suppose it’s 4 if you had to say “the fo’c’s’le’s clear” or whatever” I suggested.

“Another problem we get here is “gym” or should it be gym’.” he added.

“Well, there are missing letters so I suppose gym’ is correct.”

“You mean gym’’s correct” he chuckled.

Jigjag, well done on confronting Mr Trainor. I was relieved to hear that the 'Christma's Activities' was just a little joke -a pretty feeble joke, but better than apostrophe-ignorance, of course.

I find apostrophes for abbreviations a little trickier. I'm a little puzzled about the three in 'fo'c'sle' as I've always thought there were only two. My friend, C. H. Ambers seems to agree. I'm perfectly happy to abandon apostrophes for abbreviations at the ends of words. Your " gym' " looks ungainly.